Perspectives. Theme: Provide students with off-game opportunities to reflect on important themes that may influence their in-game decision making

Transcription

1 UNIT 3 Close Reading Theme: Perspectives STUDENT OBJECTIVES I can participate in a discussion about text. I can quote from a text when explaining what the text says and what I learn from the text. I can find the main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported. I can decide the meaning of important words in a text. MATERIALS Copy of text for each student Copy of text for teacher ON PERSPECTIVES This text-based discussion lesson is designed to: Provide students with regular practice with complex text and academic vocabulary Provide students with the opportunity to hear text read by a fluent reader (When students follow along, this supports their developing fluency) Provide students with the opportunity to engage in collaborative, text-based conversations about important ideas and textual evidence Provide students with off-game opportunities to reflect on important themes that may influence their in-game decision making The lesson is designed so that while it contains challenge, the student experience is supportive. Design elements such as the teacher read aloud, word work and group discussions will support a range of students and are appropriate to the summer school setting. AGENDA Each discussion has five parts: Part 1: Bridge from the Game Environment Part 2: Word work Part 3: Small group discussion Part 4: Whole group share Part 5: Bridge to the Game You know your students best. Use your knowledge of your students to adapt the suggested facilitation to meet their needs and learning environment. For example, you may re-read sections of the text during the discussion, work with a group that needs extra support, extend the time for the lesson, or preview important vocabulary. TEXT ANALYSIS LESSON (TIME: 45 MINUTES) PART 1: BRIDGE FROM THE GAME ENVIRONMENT (5 minutes) Introduce the reading. Say: In the last few episodes there were a couple of important decisions that need to be made about how to spend the earnings from the garden and whether or not to relocate the residents in the apartment complex. These situations show the importance of listening to different perspectives, ideas, and opinions before making a final decision. To think more about this,

2 we re going to read and discuss a bit of a speech that former NYC mayor, Michael Bloomberg, gave to a graduating class of Harvard University. Michael Bloomberg uses lots of advanced vocabulary in his speech, so we re going to review some words that will help you understand better when we read. PART 2: WORD WORK (10 minutes) Review key vocabulary words by directing students attention to the glossary at the bottom of the reading, pronouncing each word aloud, reviewing the definition, and using each word in context. diametrically: being at opposite extremes (The teens and seniors had diametrically opposed views on what to grow in the garden.) conformity: behavior that matches an expected standard (School rules are in conformity with student expectations.) repression: not allowing a memory, feeling, thought, or desire to be expressed (When registered voters are turned away at the polls, it could be a result of voter repression.) ideology: the set of ideas and beliefs of a group (Parents often have different ideologies about how to raise children.) intolerance: the attitude that a given group of people do not deserve to be treated fairly or equally (By making it hard for a particular group of citizens to vote, you are showing intolerance for that group.) tyrannical: using too much power over people in order to get them to behave a certain way (Her tyrannical boss refused to listen to anyone else s point of view.) PART 3: SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION (Groups of 3 or 4) (10 minutes) Read the selection aloud to students as they follow along. Listening to a fluent reader read a text aloud while following along is one way to help readers to develop reading fluency. Stop at the designated points and ask students to discuss the posed questions in small groups. The teacher should circulate and listen to student comments. Note that students may need to synthesize information across multiple paragraphs to respond to the questions. STANDARDS ADDRESSED CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.2 Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 5 topic or subject area. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1.C Pose and respond to specific questions by making comments that contribute to the discussion and elaborate on the remarks of others. CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.5.1.D Review the key ideas expressed and draw conclusions in light of information and knowledge gained from the discussions.

3 UNIT 3 Close Reading Theme: Perspectives Assign each group a paragraph. After Paragraph 7: According to Bloomberg, what is the role of universities? Why is this role important? After Paragraph 9: What freedom does Bloomberg want to discuss with his audience? Why does he choose this topic for discussion? After Paragraph 16: What happened in New York that troubled Bloomberg? Why was this incident troubling to him? After Paragraph 20: According to Bloomberg, why would some people want to repress opinions that are different? PART 4: WHOLE GROUP SHARE (8 minutes) After Paragraph 28, ask: What point is Bloomberg trying to communicate with his speech? Do you agree with his argument? Why or why not? PART 5: BRIDGE TO THE GAME (7 minutes) Say: Think about the conflicts that are occurring at the Center. How could considering different perspectives help the characters make better choices? How will this reading and discussion influence the decisions you make in the next episodes of the game?

4 Harvard Commencement Speech 2014 (Excerpted) May 29, 2014 Cambridge, Mass I m excited to be here, not only to address the distinguished graduates and alumni at Harvard University s 363rd commencement but to stand in the exact spot where Oprah stood last year. OMG. Let me begin with the most important order of business: Let s have a big round of applause for the Class of 2014! They ve earned it! My personal connection to Harvard began in 1964, when I graduated from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and matriculated here at the B-School. You re probably asking: How did I ever get into Harvard Business School, given my stellar academic record, where I always made the top half of the class possible? I have no idea. And the only people more surprised than me were my professors. Anyway, here I am again back in Cambridge. And I have noticed that a few things have changed since I was a student here. Elsie s a sandwich spot I used to love near the Square is now a burrito shop. The Wursthaus which had great beer and sausage is now an artisanal gastro-pub, whatever the heck that is. And the old Holyoke Center is now named the Smith Campus Center. But the good news is, Harvard remains what it was when I first arrived on campus 50 years ago: America s most prestigious university. And, like other great universities, it lies at the heart of the American experiment in democracy. Their purpose is not only to advance knowledge, but to advance the ideals of our nation. Great universities are places where people of all backgrounds, holding all beliefs, pursuing all questions, can come to study and debate their ideas freely and openly. Today, I d like to talk with you about how important it is for that freedom to exist for everyone, no matter how strongly we may disagree with another s viewpoint. Tolerance for other people s ideas, and the freedom 9. to express your own, are inseparable values at great universities. Joined together, they form a sacred trust that holds the basis of our democratic society. But that trust is perpetually vulnerable to the 10. tyrannical tendencies of monarchs, mobs, and majorities. And lately, we have seen those tendencies manifest themselves too often, both on college campuses and in our society. That s the bad news and unfortunately, I think 11. both Harvard, and my own city of New York, have been witnesses to this trend. First, for New York City. Several years ago, as 12. you may remember, some people tried to stop the development of a mosque a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. It was an emotional issue, and polls showed that 13. two-thirds of Americans were against a mosque being built there. Even the Anti-Defamation League widely regarded as the country s most ardent defender of religious freedom declared its opposition to the project. The opponents held rallies and demonstrations. 14. They denounced the developers. And they demanded that city government stop its construction. That was their right and we protected their right to protest. But they could not have been more wrong. And we refused to cave in to their demands. The idea that government would single out a 15. particular religion, and block its believers and only its believers from building a house of worship in a particular area is diametrically opposed to the moral principles that gave rise to our great nation and the constitutional protections that have sustained it. We like to think that the principle of separation of 16. church and state is settled. It is not. And it never will be. It is up to us to guard it fiercely and to ensure READABILITY MEASURES: Reading Maturity: 10.9 Flesh-Kincaid 10.1

5 Harvard Commencement Speech 2014 (Excerpted) that equality under the law means equality under the law for everyone. 17. If you want the freedom to worship as you wish, to speak as you wish, and to marry whom you wish, you must tolerate my freedom to do so or not do so as well. 18. What I do may offend you. You may find my actions immoral or unjust. But attempting to restrict my freedoms in ways that you would not restrict your own leads only to injustice. 19. We cannot deny others the rights and privileges that we demand for ourselves. And that is true in cities and it is no less true at universities, where the forces of repression appear to be stronger now than they have been since the 1950s. 20. Repressing free expression is a natural human weakness, and it is up to us to fight it at every turn. Intolerance of ideas whether liberal or conservative is antithetical to individual rights and free societies, and it is no less antithetical to great universities and first-rate scholarship. 21. There is an idea floating around college campuses including here at Harvard that scholars should be funded only if their work conforms to a particular view of justice. There s a word for that idea: censorship. 22. Diversity of gender, ethnicity, and orientation is important. But a university cannot be great if its faculty is politically [the same]. In fact, the whole purpose of granting tenure to professors is to ensure that they feel free to conduct research on ideas that run afoul of university politics and societal norms. 23. When tenure was created, it mostly protected liberals whose ideas ran up against conservative norms. Today, if tenure is going to continue to exist, it must also protect conservatives whose ideas run up against liberal norms. Otherwise, university research and the professors who conduct it will lose credibility. The role of universities is not to promote an 24. ideology. It is to provide scholars and students with a neutral forum for researching and debating issues without tipping the scales in one direction, or repressing unpopular views. Requiring scholars and commencement speakers, 25. for that matter to conform to certain political standards undermines the whole purpose of a university. This spring, it has been disturbing to see a number 26. of college commencement speakers withdraw or have their invitations rescinded after protests from students and to me, shockingly from senior faculty and administrators who should know better. If a university thinks twice before inviting a 27. commencement speaker because of his or her politics censorship and conformity the mortal enemies of freedom win out. The more we embrace a free exchange of ideas, and the more we accept that political diversity is healthy, the stronger our society will be. Now, I know this has not been a traditional commencement speech, and it may keep me from passing 28. a dissertation defense in the humanities department, but there is no easy time to say hard things. diametrically: being at opposite extremes e.g., The teens and seniors had diametrically opposed views on what to grow in the garden. conformity: behavior that matches an expected standard e.g., School rules are in conformity with student expectations. repression: not allowing a memory, feeling, thought, or desire to be expressed e.g., When registered voters are turned away at the polls, it could be a result of voter repression. ideology: the set of ideas and beliefs of a group e.g., Parents often have different ideologies about how to raise children. intolerance: the attitude that a given group of people do not deserve to be treated fairly or equally e.g., By making it hard for a particular group of citizens to vote, you are showing intolerance for that group. tyrannical: using too much power over people in order to get them to behave a certain way e.g., Her tyrannical boss refused to listen to anyone else s point of view. READABILITY MEASURES: Reading Maturity: 10.9 Flesh-Kincaid 10.1